


The Road to Redemption is Paved With Shadows of the Past

by EternalAutumn



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV), Once Upon a Time in Wonderland (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-28
Updated: 2014-01-28
Packaged: 2018-01-10 08:02:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1157121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EternalAutumn/pseuds/EternalAutumn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rumpelstiltskin is out for an evening walk when he encounters someone else who understands what it's like when the person you gave up everything for, can't let go of your mistakes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Road to Redemption is Paved With Shadows of the Past

**Author's Note:**

> Just a one-shot idea that came to me during a conversation with a friend. I realized that Rumpel and Anastasia are actually in quite a similar predicament with Neal and Will. Slight AU where the Wonderland characters have come to Storybrooke.

Rumpelstiltskin was startled to see another person standing by the railing at the marina, looking out at the boats and ships.

This was a little detour he alone liked to take, when Belle was working late at the library. She was obsessed with getting all her books organized, though he suspected she sometimes stayed late solely because she'd start reading something herself and be unable to stop until she finished.

Either way, he didn't question it. He had a tendency to find everything that Belle did endearing, and he always did enjoy some quiet time and solitude, to just reflect on things.

As he stepped closer to the railing, he recognized the girl standing there, though she didn't seem to notice him.

Her name was Anastasia. She had been known as the Red Queen in Wonderland, but here, she was Anastasia, same as she had been before going to Wonderland.

Rumpel still remembered the day she'd arrived, popping out of a strange hole right outside his shop, along with two other people he'd never seen before, and one he half-hoped to never see again. The two strangers were Alice and Cyrus, a human girl and the genie she loved, and the other was Will, otherwise known as the Knave of Hearts. Will had been pulled to Storybrooke with the Dark Curse and was known for being somewhat of a hooligan. Rumpel could vouch for that, as he once stole a necklace out of his shop and he'd never been able to recover it.

Belle and Alice had become friends as of late, so Rumpel knew a little about the things that had gone on in Wonderland. Anastasia had once been Will's love, but she'd made a terrible mistake that had cost her everything, but she'd spent nearly every second after trying to fix it. She'd been willing to go so far as to change the laws of magic so she could go back in time and undo it.

Rumpelstiltskin certainly could respect that.

He stepped closer to her, and she jumped back a little. Obviously his reputation preceeded him. He could only imagine what Will may have said to her about him...That is, if he bothered to speak to her at all.

"Trying to drown your thoughts by staring at the sea, Dearie?" he asked her, trying to break the ice and show her he wasn't there to cause her any harm. "It won't work, trust me, I've tried it enough times myself."

Anastasia stared at him, not quite sure what to say. He recognized the look on her face, though, and gave her a tentative smile, letting her know that she could talk if she wanted to, or if she didn't, that was fine too.

"Was power worth it?" she finally asked. "For you, I mean? Did you get everything you desired? The perfect ending?"

"Far from it," Rumpel said, looking out at the ships himself. "Power, while seductive, rarely gives you what you want in the long run. It may seem like a cure-all for everything, but in my many, many years in all the realms, it has cost me more than I could ever hope to gain from it."

"Did you lose someone you loved, too?" Anastasia asked, tears forming in her eyes as she recognized the pain in the man's voice.

Rumpel turned back to face her.

"Indeed I did, Dearie. The very person I took the power to protect in the first place."

"But, Belle is with you now," Anastasia said, not sure she understood. "I doubt Will would ever come back to _me_."

"Belle was the one person who always believed in me and my will to change," Rumpel told her. "But the person I'm speaking of is my son, Baelfire. Neal, in this world, but it's Baelfire. Always Baelfire, to me."

"What happened?" Anastasia asked.

"I made mistakes, just like you did. Chose power, when I should've chosen him. I was lucky enough to be reunited with him, but he will never forgive me. I maimed myself, came home from war and was branded a coward, so I could be there for him. I lost my wife, and the respect of everyone, became the most powerful and feared man in all the realms, but I still couldn't stop myself from losing my son."

"He doesn't see that everything you did was for him."

Rumpel nodded in response, though Anastasia's words were a matter-of-fact statement, rather than a question.

"I take it you're in a similar predicament?" Rumpel inquired.

"I know I was wrong," Anastasia choked out, unable to stop herself once she started talking about it. "But I did everything I could...I teamed up Jafar, I was willing to _change the laws of magic,_ so I could reverse what I did in the first place, and we could start over from where we were _before_ Wonderland. But now...He doesn't believe a word I say. He barely even looks at me. And when he does, there's something in his eyes...Something that wasn't there before."

"That would be the special kind of pain that comes with betrayal," Rumpel said matter-of-factly. "Bae is similar. Even when he does speak to me, he looks at me in a way that lets me know I'm not forgiven, and likely never will be. Even when I tried to save his son, in Neverland, he believed that I only wanted him saved so I could kill him myself. Redemption is not an easy road, Dearie. It is paved with shadows of the past that will try to consume you at every turn."

"But yet you continue on," Anastasia noted. "How do you deal with it?"

Rumpel gave her a sad smile and said, "I just tell myself that one day it will be enough. That one day I'll be the person I once was again...The person I was when I was 'Papa' and he loved me."

"One day it will be enough," Anastasia repeated, looking out at the ships again.

"Say it enough and you'll start to believe it," Rumpel told her, turning to face the ships himself.

They stayed like that, in silence, for a long time, each hoping that one day, maybe they'd be standing there with the very people whose forgiveness they longed for.


End file.
